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About this project

VERVE2 is the world's easiest-to-use tool for creating amazing projects. Simply plug a sensor into the VERVE and use our app to convert the sensors into keyboard, mouse, text, email, IFTTT, etc. commands. Or log sensor data and see it real-time on your computer, mobile, or tablet anywhere in the world through the internet. Or connect it directly to your website, app, Windows, or Mac game. NO PROGRAMMING OR ELECTRONICS KNOWLEDGE NEEDED. It literally takes 5 minutes to get started.

Everybody’s exploring to see how they can connect the physical world to the digital world. It’s exciting and fun, but it also requires specialized knowledge of electronics and computer programming. We think that shouldn’t be a barrier to creativity, which is why we created VERVE2. VERVE2 allows anyone to create awesome projects that monitor the physical world to control the digital world and internet.

VERVE2 gets your stuff on the internet, fast!
The VERVE2 is THREE awesome products in one. First, like its predecessor (VERVE1), it is a sensor system that you can use to easily control your favorite games or apps with the world around you. Second, it’s a web data server that lets you read sensor data through the internet. Third, it’s a full blown, easy-to-use data acquisition system that lets you collect and monitor data for your own research projects.

VERVE2, the ultimate educational technology toyVERVE2 is an amazingly fun educational toy that gently brings physical computing to budding technologists and creators. With VERVE2, students learn about computers, science, technology, problem solving, and creativity. The kit comes ready-to-go, out of the box, with eight super useful sensors and plenty of fun games and apps to try. VERVE2 is absolutely fantastic for science fair projects, it lets students "learn, do, and demonstrate." There is no other product like this on the market!

Home monitoring, YOUR wayYou can buy products that monitor your home or office, but those are specialized systems. Why not design and build your own monitoring system, and create your own custom solution? With VERVE2 it’s super simple. Try out your own ideas, then implement them in minutes.

Data, data, data!With VERVE2 you can be master of data collection. Every sensor can be logged, either on your local computer or on the internet, and that data can be saved as CSV files for studying later. Do you want to know how many times your refrigerator was opened last month? Or how long the lights are on? Or how fast a piece of machinery is running? No problem! VERVE2 makes it super easy to log and record up to eight sensors at once.

Let's change the world, together!We're in a technology revolution, as we enter the age of the Internet of Things. For the first time, technology is cheap, ubiquitous, and available to everyone. But technology still needs to become human-centric, our experiences with technology should be natural and meaningful. Who’s going to change that? This innovative work doesn’t have to be relegated to elite researchers in ivory towers and engineers in million dollar research labs. We can all play a role. Perhaps the greatest contributions will come from everyday people, because we all have unique experiences and perspectives, and because creativity is in all of us. We just need the right tools. Get the VERVE2, and let’s get started!

VERVE 1 vs 2

Check out VERVE 1.0 to get a better idea of what it can do.

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VERVE 2.0 basically blows VERVE 1.0 out of the water. It's similar to comparing a car phone from the 90's to a iPhone 5. With VERVE 2.0 you can now do the following in addition to easily mapping your world into mouse and keyboard actions:

1.) Connect VERVE to the internet! This means that you can use any of our sensors to easily send a text, email, or connect directly to websites like IFTTT.

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2.) Data logging: You can easily log all the sensor data you want. Just plug a sensor in and press record. After logging, you can scroll and zoom through this data to see what you just recorded, or you can save it as a .csv file and view it on any program (like excel, MATLAB, etc)

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3.) Read sensors REAL TIME THROUGH THE INTERNET. This means you can touch a sensor in Taiwan and see that action in Wyoming. You can see, save, and use this real-time sensor monitoring for data logging or for controlling any website, or html app. As an example, we created a simple web app that reads and displays data real time. This can be used on any remote mobile device (iPhone, tablet, etc) or computer from anywhere in the world.

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4.) We opened up the API so you can read the sensor data directly using your favorite programming language.

5.) As a side note, we made the enclosure look much better, included an 8th sensor channel, cleaned up the user interface so its easy enough for a toddler to navigate through, and added some new flare to the sensors.

We mean it when we say we can't wait to see what you'll make!!

Meet the Sensors

All of our sensors are designed to be easy to use, right out of the box. Plug in a cable (provided) and the sensor is ready to go. We've picked the most useful and fun sensors for you. But we're adding more all the time, so you should be able to find a sensor to fit your needs.

Last but not least is the DIY sensor. This sensor is meant for people who already have some background in electronics and want an easy way to connect their sensors to the VERVE2. The DIY sensor contains 0.1'' spacing GND, signal, and 3.3V pins. It also has on-board pull-up and pull-down breakout pins that accept through-hole resistors. If you need more room or have more complicated analog sensors, you can plug the DIY sensor into your own breakout breadboard.

Pledge Tiers

Since you are the first ones to believe in us. All tiers are at least 20% off from our retail price.

Why Kickstarter?

We think Kickstarter is the ideal place to launch this product. Kickstarters are our kind of people--forward looking, tech savvy, doers who aren't content to wait around for things to happen by themselves. We need Kickstarters to help us get our product into production, thereby enabling a generation of technical and creative people to make awesome technology and creative projects. If we hit our funding target then we can afford to build the devices at costs low enough to be affordable enough to put these devices in the hands of anyone who wants one.

Production and Fulfillment plan

We want to be perfectly transparent with you every step of the way. Here’s some information on how we will be turning this product from an idea to a product that you can hold in your hands. Production and fulfillment will be handled in a three step process.

Step 1: Manufacturing Printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication, PCB assembly, and packaging will all be handled through NOA Labs. This manufacturing firm has a proven track record. They have worked with giants such as BMW and Airbus as well as countless small businesses and start-ups. We have worked with them on several successful project. The company is ready to produce up to 50,000 units per month and quoted us a lead time of 20-30 days for production. Shipment will take another 5-7 days. In parallel, we will order the colorful sensor cables and the cable extenders from a trusted electronics supplier. We received initial sample units of all these components from this supplier and they too are ready to ship at a moment’s notice. Their quoted lead time is 20 days with another 7-10 days for shipment.

Step 2: Assembly. We will begin assembly the same day the units arrive from both NOA labs and our electronics supplier. We will test each board, sensor, and cable to make sure that everything works perfectly. We will then package this item in the supplied retail box. This process is expected to take between 10-15 days depending on the number of orders.

Step 3: Fulfillment. We partnered with a local fulfillment center that is ready to ship out all the units. This process will take 5-10 days. It will take an additional 5-15 days for USPS to get the item to your door. We will push as hard as humanly possible to get this item to you quickly.

The Story

The VERVE project started at the University of California Irvine as a research project in exergaming systems for health applications. Under the guidance of Professor Mark Bachman, then-UCI students Nizan Friedman and Jordan Linford developed sensors and games for exercise bicycles, treadmills, ellipticals, and other equipment. However, the in-house games just didn’t seem to match the quality and fun of commercially available games, and the team felt disappointed in the results of their effort. Eventually, the team moved its attention to using commercial and open-source games with beautiful graphics and immersive gameplay. To accomplish this, at first the team simply hacked a game controller (which worked great). However, it quickly became evident that a dedicated electronic unit that could map sensor inputs to game controls was a far better solution. The team spent many months developing the first prototype on a breadboard.

Over the course of 18 months, the team improved the design, started getting printed circuits made professionally, and made the system capable of saving configuration files on an SD card, so that sensor settings could be saved.

After Nizan and Jordan graduated, the team felt that it would be a great idea to convert this project into a commercial product that could be made affordable and easy to use. With this in mind, the team developed the VERVE, a device that can be mass manufactured, has internal storage, can fit in an enclosure, and accepts seven standard 3.5 mm jacks for sensor input. In addition, the team developed pre-calibrated, plug-and-play sensors designed to be easy to use with the VERVE unit.

The team also developed a beta version of a user interface software that makes mapping from sensor inputs to computer controls a breeze. With these changes to the initial designs intended for research, the team felt that it made the project accessible and affordable for everyone to use.

In November 2013, the team launched VERVE 1.0 on Kickstarter and managed to raise almost 200% of their intended goal. This initial funding lead to a successful product that has sold in over 30 countries around the world. The engineering team has also grown considerably in size to 9 members.

We received a lot of great input from our customers. The team was also itching for some awesome new features. So we basically made VERVE2 1000x better by including Internet of Things functionality, data acquisition both on board and through the internet (you can log data real-time via the internet onto any device), and created a more user friendly enclosure.

We are now ready to go. We have received working, injection molded samples as seen above. We simply need a large order to get started. So please help us out! You will receive your product by the end of November with plenty of time to play with it and to then gently place it back in packaging and put a bow on it for the holiday season!

About us

We've been building sensor and control systems for the internet and for professional applications for many, many years. One of the things that most concerns us is how difficult and expensive it has been to do this. This barrier has meant that innovation for physical computing has been relegated to a privileged few in ivory tower laboratories or large corporations. The upcoming Internet of Things revolution is going to need the creative input from everyone, not just a few people with Ph.Ds. We think that IoT will be similar to the dot-com revolution, which was driven by everyday people. We're passionate about providing the tools and support to help everyone become an IoT and Physical Computing innovator. That's why we're developing products like VERVE2 and the inXus sensor modules. Our products are designed to remove unnecessary barriers between you and your creativity.

The inXus Interactive team is led by Mark Bachman and Nizan Friedman, both experts in human-centric technology for the Internet of Things. Our team consists of young, energetic technologists who share a passion for empowering everyone to use technology to make our experiences richer and more meaningful.

Mark Bachman is a faculty in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and also in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California Irvine. His work focuses on technology systems integration for Human-Computer-Human Interaction (HCHI).

Nizan holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from UC Irvine which he received for developing wearable sensor systems and video game applications for post-stroke hand rehabilitation. Nizan is also an accomplished entrepreneur.

Our team of engineers and technologists is top rate, hand selected by Drs. Bachman and Friedman, consisting of some of the best and brightest minds in Southern California. More importantly, inXus people are positive, energetic, motivated, mindful of the human experience, and of high character. And we love to have fun!

Risks and challenges

We learned a lot in our last Kickstarter and we're confident that we can deliver this product, quality tested, packaged, and on time. We've completed almost all of the design work and tested beta prototypes. We're working with trusted manufacturers who have delivered for us in the past, and we've got backups in case they drop the ball. However, there are always opportunities for problems during production and fulfillment. If problems arise, we'll notify our backers right away and keep them informed of what's going on. We're all about working with you and being transparent all the way.

We want to earn your trust and loyalty. Together, were going to make some really great things.

We want to send out a thank you to Danielle Pham for putting together a brilliant video. We also want to send out a big thanks to all the inventors who have helped spark the maker movement. To inventors of products like the Arduino, little Bits, Makey Makey, ATOMS toys and all the other awesome maker's tools in between. You have inspired millions of people around the world -- us included!

The VERVE2 is designed to be used with a host computer. It receives its power from the host's USB. Keyboard and mouse emulation allow it to be connected to any computer that accepts USB keyboard/mouse input. However, for data logging, triggering internet actions, or web-based data serving, the VERVE2 unit must be used with a Mac or Windows computer that is running the Verve App (included with the VERVE2). The VERVE App makes it easy to see that is going on with the sensors, easy to record the sensor data, and easy to serve the data as a web server. In addition, the VERVE App can do these things while running in the background. The VERVE2 unit itself is not a web server and cannot work as a standalone device.

VERVE2 is intended to be an easy, fun way to get involved in Internet of Things (IoT) applications, allowing people with little experience to explore creative ideas for sensors and the internet. The VERVE App makes it very easy to understand sensors (you can see what they're doing real time), set up data logging, and configure internet actions. We will release a standalone web data server in early 2015 for the professional market. Stay tuned!

Pledge $3,000 or more

0 backers
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PARTY WITH A FOUNDER: The founders are generally known to be super fun people. We also have Ph.Ds in technology. Get a face-to-face with us. One of the founders will personally fly out to your destination (in the continental US) and teach you and your friends how to use the VERVE2. Educators, this is a great way to set up an educational program with the VERVE2, and train your instructors.

Estimated delivery:Nov 2014

Ships anywhere in the world

Funding period

Aug 20, 2014 - Sep 29, 2014
(40 days)

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